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The holiday season is upon us and we have put together a delicious menu worthy of your celebrations.

We focus on a fresh approach to American classics. Some of you like to explore culinary boundaries while others prefer a familiar classic. We understand this and now offer a chicken entrée in each seasonal menu. Our salads will continue to display the unique bounty of each season.

The successful continuation of the Tony Starlight Show depends on dinner and show ticket sales. Thank you for your support!

If you have any questions or comments regarding the menu at The Tony Starlight Show, please contact us at (503) 730-7040 or email steve@spinpdx.com.

The beef entree is perfect winter comfort food, featuring a slow-braised beef short rib topped with a cabernet demi-glace.

We’re so excited for you to taste our new menu selections for May and June! Fresh asparagus and wild rice welcome Spring to your table. The San Marzano tomatoes on the polenta are just the right balance of acidity and sweetness. The lobster shines through with truffle oil and butter. Come taste for yourself and experience our Tony Starlight Signature Service. Cheers!

Is there a song that is more misunderstood than Neil Diamond’s “Forever in Blue Jeans”? I don’t mean like Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” “‘scuse me while I kiss this guy…” misunderstood. We understand every word of “Forever in Blue Jeans”, but no one seems to understand the author’s meaning.

Life of Pi (taters) – A Starch Reality

Don’t ask me why, but I was doing some research on potatoes and learned of the difficult and interesting lives of taters.

Taters are born into litters of 15 to 20. The crunchy newborns, or “tots” battle a host of natural predators from school lunch ladies to trendy pubs to Ore-Ida. Most are rounded up, individually frozen, fried in oil and served as side dishes. The survivors face steep odds. A mere 1 in 5 tater tots will grow up to be tater teens and only 1 in 10 of those will qualify for Potato Head Start programs.

James Bond Theme Songs

I’ve been steeped in the wonderful music of James Bond lately in advance of a 007 tribute show I’m staging this March 007th. Overall, the Bond themes are absolutely terrific. Most hold up better than the films. Here is my ranking of all 23 themes. Just click start on the video and read.

Sinatra and Jazz

This will be my first year as part of the PDX Jazz Festival. Thank you! I’m very honored. They made only one request: don’t sing. I’ll be joining the Sinatra Jazz Panel Conversation: Portland Swings Sinatra with Doug Ramsey, Dave Barduin, John Gilmore, Michael Jackson & Yours Truly. I’m honored to share the stage with these talented men, and I’m sure they too are looking forward to me not singing. We’re going to be discussing the influence of Sinatra on Jazz.

Yesterday morning, Christa Wessel, the host of KMHD 89.1 FM’s Divaville, announced she is retiring her radio show after 20 years as a volunteer DJ. The show is perennially near or at the top of the most listened to shows on KMHD and is focused on the vocal jazz of the ‘20s through the ‘60s. Great stuff! In an open letter posted to her Facebook page, Wessel says, “Divaville has been a part of my life for the last 20 years, and it’s been my joy and privilege to share these great old vocalists with you.” Her departure leaves a void in the radio landscape that will be tough to fill and it’s not just because of the music. It’s because of the host, Christa Wessel.

For whatever reason, (and I’m sure it’s a good one) too many seventies songs, (and especially those known as AM Gold) have parentheses in their titles. This phenomenon begins around 1970 (the year that I was born) and by 1978 (the year I was eight) is all over (as in, done.) Why?(more…)

My father remarried in 2003. It was a small affair for immediate family and friends that numbered about a dozen or so. We commandeered an intimate bed and breakfast for a long summer weekend in Napa Valley. I let the family know I would be entertaining at the reception. They knew what to expect. I performed professionally for years as Tony Starlight, a Rat Pack, lounge singing crooner, but had retired from the music biz in 1999 and was busy performing in comedy theater in L.A. I didn’t miss music and it didn’t miss me. I was burnt out.(more…)

1994

It seems a long time ago because it is. The world has changed so much. That was the year I started down this path to save this business we call “show”. To put it into perspective for you, if you were born in 1994, you’d be 20 years old right now. Wow! The twenty years I’ve been doing the Tony Starlight Show is 20 years longer than anyone else has been doing this show. It makes you think, and I’m sorry for that.(more…)

I’ve got some very exciting news! It has been no secret that I have been trying to expand my business for the last several years and now it is finally coming to fruition. I have gone into collaboration with Spin Events and will be moving my shows to a new location we are calling The Tony Starlight Showroom at 1125 SE Madison. I will have much more information to share as the grand opening draws near on August 22, 2014, but here are a few key details I can share with you now.(more…)

Every year I have been asked to write a letter to the roustabout jazz-a-muffins who attend Mel Brown’s Summer Jazz Camp. I am honored that the great Mel Brown trusts me. I love the idea of shaping and molding these young minds with my superior, more experienced SUPER-BRAIN. Here is the letter that Mrs. B., the jazz camp den mother, will post in the jazz barracks of this year’s battalion of future hepcats.(more…)

I have a dirty little secret I’d like to finally get off my chest. No, it’s not that! Everyone knows that I was born a woman! It’s that I like to watch American Idol, The Voice and X-Factor. I know that you’re thinking I should be cynical about these shows but I think these three shows are different from other “reality shows.” You’re right about most of those kinds of shows. I can’t stand shows with non-actors, celebrity dancers or some evil housewife. Who wants to watch these ordinary (or in most cases under-ordinary) people? And America’s Got Talent is as bad as the Gong Show ever was. Now I am not one who calls or texts in votes or downloads any of the performances and I would not buy the albums from any of these artists and do not go to any of their concerts when they tour. In fact, they rarely sing songs that I like and sing most of the songs that I hate, like “Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart”. Ugh! In fact half the time I’m yelling things like “You’re flat!” “Good God, that’s awful!” “That’s not the melody!” “Pick a song in your vocal range, you idiot!” “You’re in the wrong key!” “You sound EXACTLY like Dave Matthews!” So why do I watch?(more…)

I’m 43 as I write this. My generation grew up in the 1970s with a common culture. We watched the same movies, watched one of three TV channels and listened to one of three or four local radio stations. Now that we’re grown, we may not share the same religions, politics or tastes in terrible television shows, but we share the same pop culture memories and more than anything else, the AM radio provided the soundtrack.(more…)

I ran into a couple good customers the other day. They are a nice, fun couple in their mid sixties and they have been to the club with friends and with their grown children on several occasions, but it had been sometime, well over a year since I had seen them. We had a nice chat and then they told me they had a little confession. They wanted to tell me why they hadn’t been in for so long. Bad food? Slow service? What could it be? Then they hit me with this. “Tony, you make too much fun of getting old and it’s depressing. We’re not old. We’re young!”(more…)

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